It-transit Valhalla

Greetings from the Virgin Atlantic first class lounge!

Don't let me give you the wrong impression -- I'm both cheap and generally poor -- but a string of good luck got me upgraded. I have to say that this place is absolutely awesome. The chairs are soft, the internet is high-speed, the nuts are mixed and I'm told there's a PlayStation somewhere around here. Compared to the indignity of surrendering your belt and shoes to a security guard in the middle of a crowded room (would you do that just to ride a bus?) this is about as civilized as it gets. Since the days of showing up for your flight right before arrival are over, I'd imagine that if the major airlines want to win customers back from the discounters, they will have more facilities like this, even for the plebes in coach. While this lounge is oriented toward business travellers, there may soon be similar facilities for families and leisure travellers as well.

Now, I must go, as drinks await!

Leavin' on a jetplane

My tickets and passport are in my carry-on. I have enough shirts and pants packed to outfit a small boy-band. My nailclippers are at home - it's probably worth buying them over there rather than risk it on the plane. The car is stowed away and my rent check for April is already on its way.

In short, I'm off to London for a week, so LFTTR will have significantly fewer posts in the upcoming days. CS will be around to post, and I may upload a cameraphone picture or two, but don't get cranky when there's no new content on any particular day.

Think Happy Thoughts

Transport Blog makes me feel just a teensy bit uneasy about relying completely on TFL and Thames Trains during my upcoming trip to London (with a day trip to Oxford). I was thinking of renting a Vespa to see more of the town and countryside at ground level, but then I remembered that I'm not used to driving on the left side of the road and I've never rode (and certainly not driven) any form of two-wheeled motorized transport.

Of course, it's probably not as bad as the impression one would get from a blog run by libertarian train buffs. One can easily find tales of woe from the New York City subway -- severed limbs, pants on fire, overcrowding the likes of which are hard to comprehend (try taking the first 4 train downtown back from a Yankees game) and the overwhelming stench of urine at some stations. American intercity rail is even worse. Heck, the only time you even hear of Amtrak in the news is when someone throws themselves in front of a train or when the agency runs out of money. But despite all this, I still manage to get from point A to point B using these supposedly problem-plagued systems with a minimum of fuss, distrubance or conflagrating articles of clothing.

Pants on fire

On the New York City subway, I bet nobody looked twice.

I'm reminded of a story from a few years back. A man apparently died on a subway train and ended up riding back and forth on the 2 train for some time until a maintainance man at the yard found him there. Apparently, everyone just thought he was asleep.

But that's not the good part (well, at least not for the dead guy).

Anyway, in covering the story, Channel 5 (the local Fox affiliate) sent a reporter to ride the 2 train, waking up people who were sleeping, to see if they were dead or not. I distinctly remember, to this day, the reporter tapping on some poor napping commuter asking, "excuse me sir. Excuse me. Are you dead?"

Do not go gently into that dark smelter

NYC subway tokens are on the auction block. I always thought they were the prettiest coins in the average New Yorker's wallet.

Trolley History In DC

The DC government is proposing to remove the last remaining streetcar tracks in the city. In an Op-Ed piece in Sunday’s Post former vice president of the National Trolley Museum, Peter C. Kohler, argues for preserving this relic of a bygone era in the city’s history. The tracks are not only the last remaining in the District, but are also “the last examples of ‘conduit’ tracks (tracks powered from underground) anywhere in the world.”

Photo Courtesy The Washington Post

Rejoice!

For subway journalism demigod Randy Kennedy's columns have been collected into one book, Subwayland.

There less than six short months until my birthday...

You may not be so crazy for taking the bus

Via Transport Blog, we learn that the U.K. has discovered the joys of dirt cheap private intercity bus travel. Megabus will take you to many destinations for only £1, or about $1.85 (going on $3).

We have a slight variation on this - the ethnic bus. With the Chinatown buses linking New York with Washington, Philadelphia and Boston and Jewish bus lines going from New York to Washington and Montreal (but not on Shabbat), groups are discovering they can do it better than Greyhound.

Perhaps the best thing about these services is that you don't have to go to an actual bus station. The Washington station, about a quarter-mile from the nearest Metro station along the train tracks, is smelly, occasionally smelly and devoid of the nice food stalls you get at Union Station (and no, Hardees and a soda machine doesn't count). I recall stepping on crack vials on the way to the Baltimore Greyhound station. The only decnt bus depot I've ever been to is New York's Port Authority Bus Terminal, which has its own bowling alley.

In DC, the Washington Deluxe bus stops at a Starbucks near the White House, which is a much nicer place to wait.

You're crazy for taking the bus
Well, I'm crazy, so what's the fuss
Two whole days on that stinking bus
Yes and I sleep fine
So you take the plane, I'll take the bus this time.

-Jonathan Richman, "You're crazy for taking the bus"

Transit news comes home

I had to deal with this on the way to work this morning, FYI.

With DC's super-modern, clean, clockwork-reliable (except for the escalators) and not too crowded subways, a delay like this can send people into a blind rage about how if things don't turn around, it'll be like New York soon.

They wish.

Limping along

The Baltimore Sun on how not to run a railroad.

Starve the beast?

It was the hope of many Republicans during the government shutdown in 1996 that many people would realise they didn't need all the services that weren't being offered, leaving them in a stronger position to cut things like parks and the arts once the stalemate ended. Unfortunately for them, that didn't happen and many people blamed Republicans for their obstructionism, reelecting Bill Clinton.

Now Minnesotans face a similar test: Twin Cities-area transit workers have been striking for over a week. Some libertarians found that transit didn't get significantly worse in the midst of the strike, leading them (predictably) to call for an end to bus service.

What's wrong with this?

1. People aren't on the roads because they have nowhere to go. We see these stories from people who can't make it to work because the busses aren't running. But then again, these people don't contribute to libertarian think tanks, so if we can prevent them from getting public unemployment benefits, it should have very little net impact to the tax rolls, which is all that matters.

2. People are making short-term changes. It is entirely likely that people set up short-term carpools and decided to telecommute until the strike ends. While telecommuting is something many people can do occasionally, it's unlikely the levels occuring now in the Twin Cities area can be maintained. As for car pools, the free-rider effect will soon sink in, putting more people in their cars. Unfortunately, civic-minded behavior doesn't usually last long on the roads.

Makin' money

Well, not all that much money. The consistantly derided River Line in South Jersey:

The service is expected to draw 2,850 round-trip passengers each day during its first year and bring in $2 million in revenue; officials estimate it will cost $20 million to operate in the first year.

Suggestion Box

So, two members of the Live from the Third Rail investigative team will be travelling to London, England over the coming weeks. And given that we have some semi-loyal British readers, I'd like to put out a request for interesting transit sites to "investigate" while over there. And if they happen to be located by a pub, all the better.

Thoughts?

RJ adds: I don't know how you spend your vacation, AG, but I plan on doing things other than ride the rails. General London-area insider secrets are also very welcome.

Oh dear

Yes, we make fun of train dorks (see here), but I am certainly not one to judge (see everywhere else).

It is with a mix of shame and pride in my dorkdom that I may actually see a play about rail privatization on my upcoming trip to London.

At least it's not a musical.

Regional Transit Council for Toronto

John Stillich of the Toronto Star is calling for the creation of a regional transit district called the Toronto Regional Transit Council (TRTC). Like similar regional asset districts in the U.S., the TRTC would have the ability to raise and spend money exclusively on transit rather than relying on local governement to fund its endeavors.

Will the Red Line ever arrive?

The Baltimore Sun published a scathing editorial today on the necessity for improving mass transit in Baltimore, Maryland. While there is a plan in place for creating new transit lines, it took a battle to get the $17 million in funding to begin planning and designing the new Red line -- and now the Ehrlich administration is saying that construction can't begin until 2011.

To quote the Sun:

Baltimore needs better public transit. What the city has now is a bunch of half-built half-measures. It's become a chronic problem and is one of the prime reasons that Baltimore's jobless can't get work - and the rest of us are increasingly stuck in traffic.

So why won't the Ehrlich administration fund a Baltimore transit system? Because at the moment, they're too busy building a $1.7 billion Intercounty connector highway in Montgomery County.

Bow Down to the True Transit Nerds

We here at Live from the Third Rail take a strange pride in our geekiness concerning all things transit. However, if there is one lesson to be learned in life, I believe it is the following: No matter what your deal is, there will always be someone who takes it to a greater extreme. Making a meteoric rise in your company, someone is doing it faster. Got a bizarre sexual fetish, someone’s is more perverse. Make a crap-load of money, someone is richer. Track star, someone is faster. In the case of transit nerds, there’s this guy.

Look Before You Turn

For the 23rd time, don't make illegal turns in the vicinity of a light rail train in Houston:

Friday, the 23rd train-vehicle collision occurred at 3:43 p.m. in the Museum District. Sharon Bigler-Kindrick, 53, of Kingwood was northbound in the 5000 block of San Jacinto when she turned her vehicle right into a northbound train, Connaughton said. Metro police issued her a citation for making an illegal right turn.

Northbound light rail tracks travel on the right side of San Jacinto through the Museum District. Illuminated signs activate displaying a "no right turn over tracks" icon when a train is approaching. Bigler-Kindrick is the second driver to receive a ticket this week for crashing into a train while attempting an illegal right turn. William Lemuel, 46, of Houston ran his Dodge Durango into a northbound train Monday in the same area.

[Houston Chronicle Article]

Watch Your Back Branson...

Britain’s Telegraph newspaper has an article on businessman Steven Howard’s latest venture: launching a low cost rail service to rival Britain’s giants. Specifically, Howard has taken issue with the prices and service of Virgin Trains’ Manchester to London line.

Although the article takes a slightly mocking tone (it uses Howard’s apparently self deprecating, humorous statement, “I am a serious threat to Sir Richard Branson. I'm going to run him right off the rails,” as its headline), I find its subject quite interesting.

Virgin Rail is Britain’s fourth largest passenger rail company (based on passenger revenue with a 12.8% market share in fy 02—anyone have more recent numbers). To compete with Virgin Rail, Howard’s strategy is simple no frills service with cheap tickets:

Tickets on the new, no-frills service, called Swift Line, will be considerably cheaper than Virgin's: a first-class return will be £70 compared with up to £280 with Virgin, while standard-class tickets are £60, as against up to £106 with Virgin.

He has rented a locomotive, 13 passenger cars, the driver and the guard from a freight rail service. Legal restrictions have hampered Howard’s goal to run the rush hour service he’d like to; “chartered passenger trains are barred from competing with the holders of rail franchises.” Virgin Rail holds the franchise for the London-Manchester line. However, Howard will run a weekend service.

I find myself reminded of the Chinatown to Chinatown bus services that are prevalent on the east and west coasts of the US. They offer a low cost alternative to traditional modes of transportation, such as Amtrak, Greyhound, or airlines, and have been successful outside of their original target demographic. They have even spawned similar private city-to-city bus companies that cater to the non-Chinese population. I know this isn’t the same as a private rail service, but it does share similarities.

Gas prices

On my first trip to Washington by car, my gas indicator light came on in Georgetown. Not knowing where the next gas station would be or whether the prices would be any better, I stopped at the station at Pennsylvania and M, where I paid $1.99 (and 9/10 of a cent, of course) for gas. At that point, I promised myself that never would I ever pay $2 a gallon for gas, barring massive inflation. At that price, it's just not worth it.

Well, it's getting harder and harder to keep that promise. A variety of factors is contributing to the price increases, from OPEC to reformulation to trouble in Venezuela. Price gouging and voluntary supply restriction like the type that caused the California energy crisis has also been blamed. Luckilly, I take the Metro to work, so I don't have to worry about it except for leisure trips. But this article in a South Carolina newspaper has a quote I couldn't refrain from sharing:

But Frankie Lewis, 31, who drives a delivery truck, said rising gas prices are a sign of good news for the economy.

“The economy is growing,” Lewis said, filling his eight-cylinder Chevrolet truck with diesel.

“As the economy is getting better, we have to bring more fuel into the United States to get people where they want to go. ... It’s better that fuel prices are going up,” said Lewis, who mentioned that his brother is an oil executive.

Sometimes, I think the bad guys just aren't trying hard enough anymore.

We're dorks

World subways, to scale. New York looks so organized compared to, say, Paris. How come nobody can figure it out?

via London Underground blog.

Earth to Houston:

For the 22nd time, NO LEFT TURNS ALONG THE LIGHT RAIL LINE!

Listen all y'all, it's a sabotage!

What the hell is going on in Oslo?

Power Restored to the Third Rail

After several days of bumpy rides, power has been restored to the third rail. We're back up and running full force and will continue to innundate you with thrilling stories of transit. Thanks for sticking with us.

A civilized commute, another deluded libertarian

Peter Gordon looks at commute time statistics and comes up with a bizarre conclusion: since New York has the longest average commute time and a large percentage of commuters, therefore, high density "smart growth" doesn't work. Let's do a rundown on what's wrong with this:

1. Geography makes New York a special case. Manhattan is an island and the only way on or off is through a bridge or a tunnel, creating dozens of bottlenecks. This has led to clustering and density on a level simply not sensible elsewhere. When people talk about density, they think of townhouses in lieu of gated suburban developments or McMansions, not 50-story office towers.

2. New York is bigger. Far bigger than any other city, actually. The NYC CMSA has nearly five million more people than the LA-Long Beach CMSA. I don't think spreading them out more would help much.

3. New York's infrastructure is far older than that of most other American cities. The main reason the NYC subway is so slow is because its switching system dates back to 1904. Unlike Washington's Metro, subway trains cannot go 65 miles per hour on straight tracks in the periphery, nor can the system handle the sort of headways Washingtonians can expect. Suburban commuters are hampered by bottlenecks at Penn Station (which they're upgrading) and at the Lincoln Tunnel (the main route to the Port Authority Bus Terminal for NJ Transit buses).

The highways are also unique. Unlike much of the country, the major highways were built around existing developments, often making contortions to do so. Take the FDR drive. Built in the 1930s when Manhattan was largely developed, it snakes along the East River under buildings. The lanes are narrow and the exits often back up for lack of room for traditional cloverleafs. You can't just add lanes, since doing so would require building what is essentially a pier the length of Manhattan. They're doing this on a small stretch in the 50s for repairs, but it certainly isn't fiesable for the whole length.

4. The transit system could be faster. The MTA gets far less subsidy than other transit systems. Combine this with decades of neglect only recently remedied and you have a recipe for slow trains.

5. Quality of life. New Yorkers spend 10 more minutes per day getting from Point A to Point B then do Los Angelinos. However, New Yorkers can sleep on the train. They can eat a three-course meal with a knife and fork. They can read. Unlike driving a car, time spent on the train isn't completely lost to the act of driving.

When You Go To Santa Cruz, Be Sure To Take The SolTrain

Mercury News reports that the future of mass transit is in Santa Cruz County, California:

As Silicon Valley bemoans falling ridership on its light-rail system, Santa Cruz County is quietly becoming an incubator for Jetsons-like 21st-century transportation systems. Grass-roots groups say they've seen the future of public transit -- and it's not near the chips. It's near the beach.

The SolTrain would be a solar-powered ultra-light rail train. Designed to run on normal-gauge track, this single-cab train would carry around 20 people.

And it may become a reality. The SolTrain group is presenting a plan to the county's Regional Transportation Commission to use the SolTrain for a proposed tourist line.

[Original Article - SolTrain Page]

Downtime express

Sorry for the technical problems that made this site unreachable for about a day and a half. LFTTR's host is going to get an earful for this...

UPDATE by amg: Third Rail is moving servers over the course of the next two days. This should be a seamless transition for Third Rail readers, but should ensure no future downtime such as was experienced over the last two days.

The Impact of Art on Transit

According to Newsday.com, New Jersey-ites are upset about art in the NJT system. New Jersey Transit has invested approximately $4.5 million in art for its stations over the past several years. Most of that money was federal grants.

The question is whether having art in a transit system is beneficial. Most pundits would tell you that it isn't. However, if you subscribe to the "broken windows" theory of development, art actually makes the system more livable and, therefore, encourages riders. While no one will tell you they ride transit because of the art, they will tell you they wouldn't ride transit if they felt it was either unsafe or uncomfortable. Art in the stations helps create an environment of comfort in the system by establishing a sense of order. In the long run, it's good for the system, even if it does cost a bit of money to install it.

In the case of New Jersey transit, that money comes to less than half of one percent of the projects cost. That's a cheap investment to create a system that is comfortable for riders.